Start your work on this exercise by researching site-specific and installation art. Focused on your own developing practice, seek out artists who you can respond to personally and focus on an interpretation of their work in relation to your own interests.

3 ARTISITS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE 3 ARTISTS THAT SAID IDEA IGNITING THINGS

DONNA HUANCA

The Marciano Art Foundation is a space in Los Angeles. A former Masonic temple, so previously full of masculine energy. Huanca transformed the space for her exhibition ‘Obsidian Ladder’ into a place of feminine vivacity. And because her creative process is about flow and intuition, she also removes the ghosts of order and structure from its masonry.

She created a full sensory experience with her installation. Sight, sound, smell, texture. Large canvas’s, sculptures, painted people.

“Create a new realm of communication with other beings or forces beyond our current comprehension”

(Huanca, D)

Huanca is inspired by destruction and cycles of textures in nature. And living in a generation that navigates electronically, she forcefully prompts the viewer to return to more sensory communications.

RACHEL HAYES

Initially challenging the dialogue about craft. Working as large scale as possible to deem the work more masculine, more powerful. But all the while using delicate materials and small stitches.

Hayes crafts together brightly coloured fabrics to transform vast landscapes into an ecstatic mix of nature and art. Although the materials and colours she uses are in contrast to the place they are sited in, they replicate the cause and effect that nature has on them. Changing light and reflection, shifting shadows, the sound of the breeze against the fabrics.

Adding and responding to the environment.

Fig.2 Hayes R, *Bottomless Lake State Park* (2015)

Fig.3 Hayes R, *White Sands National Park* (2017)

FRANKLIN EVANS

Art, in a studio, in a gallery, as an installation, that’s a studio, that’s the art.

Franklin covers the floors and walls of the installation space with canvas, tape, articles, newsprint, over lapping parts, disposable materials, all adding to the sense of work in progress, an ephemeral existence.

The artists workspace is a place of exploration and possibility. Franklin shows us the balance between the finished product and the process. Equalising the emergence of the art that transitions from studio to gallery.

He demonstrates the timeline of work evolving in the studio. The actions that inhabit the walls in production, to the end point, when the work is removed and only it’s spirit and scars remain.

Fig.4 Evans F, *timecompressionmachine* (2010)

CONCLUSION

Transforming a space is transforming a reality.

Add

Respond

Evolve

Decay

Anchor

Detach

Nourish

Leech

Cover

Divide

Encircle

Grow

Suspend

Immerse

Dilute

Systems

Structures

Time

Transmit

Receive

Order

Disrupt

Exposed

Holding space

List of Images

Cover Image Hayes, R. (2020) Wyoming. [Installation, photo edited with Hipstamatic] At:http://www.rachelbhayes.com/works (Accessed 02/08/2024).

Fig.1 Huanca, D. (2019) Obsidian Ladder. [Installation] At:https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2019/06/29/donna-huanca-breathes-new-life-into-los-angeles (Accessed 02/08/2024).

Fig.2 Hayes, R. (2015) Bottomless Lake State Park. [Installation] At:http://www.rachelbhayes.com/works (Accessed 09/08/2024).

Fig.3 Hayes, R. (2017) White sands National park. [Installation] At:http://www.rachelbhayes.com/works (Accessed 09/08/2024).

Fig.4 Evans, F. (2010) timecompressionmachine. [Installation] At:https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/09/08/franklin-evans-paint-and-process/ (Accessed 09/08/2024).

Bibliography

Malone, C. (2019) Donna Huanca Breathes New Life into Los Angeles. At:https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2019/06/29/donna-huanca-breathes-new-life-into-los-angeles (Accessed 02/08/2024)

She Explores. (2014-2021) Rachel Hayes Textile Artist and Sculptor. At:https://she-explores.com/spotlight/rachel-hayes/ (Accessed 09/08/2024).

Wetzler, R. (2010) Franklin Evans paint and Process. At:https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/09/08/franklin-evans-paint-and-process/ (Accessed 09/08/2024).